


all of our promises are unsaid

by yamadadzawa



Series: The World Makes No Promises, But People Sure Do [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: AU- the world makes no promises but people sure do, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, I gave Rouge a backstory, It's Roger, Mentioned Character Death, Roger Rouge and Rayleigh were a trio until they were a duo until they were a solo, Shakky is amazing and everyone knows it, There's an OC who was a part of Rouge's crew lol see first tag, also this segment is kind of Rayleigh-centric since Ace is still a literal infant, i care a lot about that friendship and I hope it shows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:01:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29415288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yamadadzawa/pseuds/yamadadzawa
Summary: Rayleigh has always had responsibilities. As a first mate, as a husband, as a friend. After a phone call has him travelling to Baterilla, he looks at an infant Gol D. Ace and picks up a new set of responsibilities.OrRouge gives guardianship of Ace to Rayleigh
Relationships: Gol D. Roger & Silvers Rayleigh, Gol D. Roger/Portgas D. Rouge, Portgas D. Rouge & Shakky, Portgas D. Rouge & Silvers Rayleigh, Silvers Rayleigh/Shakky
Series: The World Makes No Promises, But People Sure Do [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2070651
Comments: 11
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! this fic is like a prologue of Rayleigh raising Ace, this is about how Rouge gives guardianship to him
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Rayleigh is nursing a bottle of sake in some nondescript bar that he doesn’t remember the name of when he gets the call.

The bartender walks up to his table with a denden mushi and furrowed brows. He looks at Rayleigh’s half finished plate of onigiri and sake before handing over the snail. “You ordered the onigiri and sake? It’s for you.”

Rayleigh narrows his eyes. He had arrived at the island around an hour ago and no one should have known where he was heading considering that he himself didn’t. His wanderlust had grabbed the helm and said _anywhere but here_. A look at the bobbed haircut of the Denden Mushi clears his confusion.

 _Shakky_ , of course. He huffs a fond smile before relieving the man of the snail. For all of the years that he’s known and been married to her, her supernatural way of knowing some things still catches him unaware. It was always more of a financial plan than a joke whenever he told his crew to never bet against her if they were hoping to win. His brow furrows. After Roger disbanded their crew, Rayleigh had found himself laying low and avoiding attention from both Marines and Allies. Eventually he ended up at Shakky’s bar in Sabaody. It was then, he remembers, clenching a newspaper reading _Pirate King Gold Roger Captured!_ that Shakky had made him promise to check in every few months. Despite Roger’s execution, he has no doubt that Fleet Admiral Kong still has a division listening out for news on their crew. He waits until the man is back at the bar before answering.

“Not that this isn’t a pleasure, but I called you two weeks ago.” The slight smile on his lips falls, when seconds pass with no response. “Shakky?”

“Rouge called me.” Rayleigh's hand tightens around the receiver. The last time he saw Rouge was the last time he saw Roger. When the trio stood an odd parallel of themselves from twenty five years ago. Back then he and Roger had dropped Rouge off on some Grandline island because she was all about adventure and thrill, but not the bounty on her head. Except this time, it was Rouge and Roger on a small boat, leaving Rayleigh to find somewhere to sail to without his captain and the Roger Pirates’ first navigator. He puts his sake bottle down with these memories and focuses on the present.

“What did she say?”

“She was asking for you. She’s pregnant with his kid.”

Rayleigh blinks, wondering if he heard that right. Roger was captured over a year and a half ago. “Pregnant?”

“She has a cat now too,” she continues nonchalantly. “Says it’s a nice change from all the dogs on the island.” _Marines_. “You know how some wild dogs can be, always hunting, always watching.”

He hums around the tightness in his throat, “Do you think she’d be up for a visit?”

“I’m sure she would. Mentioned another friend who might be heading that way, maybe you could catch a ride in. If you’re planning on going over, don’t forget to bring over something. Grab some fresh fish, you can cook her something.”

“I hear you. I might ask for a ride back, it’d be easier to just meet somewhere we both know.”

“You probably know better than anyone the way to her house. Don’t be surprised if they pick you up for directions.”

Rayleigh eyes the denden mushi. Shakky wouldn’t give just anyone his vivre card. That along with the vague message about fish gives him an idea who to look out for already. Although she wasn’t a pirate, Rouge was still a captain with a crew that she trusted. If he remembers correctly her first mate retired into the fishing business.

“Alright, I’ll keep an eye out.”

“I’ll see you soon,” she says with the same certainty that she follows her hunches and hangs up before he can reply.

He grabs the snail and his onigiri on his way to pay. He’s a week out from South Blue and if Gaia, Rouge’s first mate, looks for him she’ll either notice which Blue he’s heading to or Shakky can tell her. The priority is to get to Rouge as fast as he can.

 _Rouge is pregnant with Roger’s kid_. He wonders if Roger knew about it when he turned himself in. A conversation on Oro jackson about legacies comes to mind. He tries to ignore the shake in his hands as he spreads out a map when the question of why Rouge is at least a year overdue and only asking for him now dances through the air.

He doesn’t know how the Marines caught wind of Roger’s kid, but he wouldn’t put it past them to have them stationed there based on a rumor. Would it have mattered if he visited after news about Roger’s capture came out, or would it have cemented the fact that Roger had a kid? He shakes his head. Rouge is smart and she knew how to reach him. They’ve known each other too long for her to hesitate asking for his help and the past won’t change no matter how hard he thinks about it.

Rayleigh lets out a heavy sigh and charts a course for Baterilla.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! this fic is like a prologue of Rayleigh raising Ace, this is about how Rouge gives guardianship to him
> 
> Thanks for reading :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayleigh and Rouge reunite on Baterilla

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I tried to make this chapter longer and succeeded. This story does not have an update schedule yet, but the kudos that this series got really hyped me up to finsih this chapter.
> 
> tw just in case: discussion of child and pregnant ladies death (they talk about the navy massacre in Baterilla)
> 
> please let me know what you think. We literally know so little about the prev generation so I formed my own stories about their history and voices. This work is not beta'd so if you see any mistakes, my bad

Baterilla was a spring island and made no effort to hide it even during the last days of the year. And really it works in his favor, Rayleigh thinks as he walks onto the shore. He had sold his one man boat two islands ago and continued his trek by swimming to avoid naval eyes. A trick that he’s used to sneak pass sonars a fair amount of times now that he wasn’t on a ship whose captain saw every navy ship as either a challenge to fight through or race pass. 

He lets the afternoon sun dry his clothes as he squints into the distance. The beach he landed on was fairly secluded with a forest where shore breaks. Even though Shakky said he’d know best how to get to Rouge, this is his first time on the island. 

The rustling palm trees and the crashing of waves help ease some of his tension, but his observation haki has been on since he ditched his boat. Now he uses it to find the familiar aura of Portgas D. Rouge. He huffs when he feels her presence on a higher altitude than any other human. She was always fond of high places. Whether that meant finding her in the crowsnest or egging someone to hike with her up a mountain. He smiles at the thought of her and Roger making a home on a hill.

Following a well worn dirt path, he finds himself in front of a house lined with flowers and vines and surrounded by a crooked wooden fence. The attempt at carpentry reminds him of why he was always the one to patch up the ship when they were just a trio. It was oddly comforting to know that some things never change, one of those being the couple’s inability to work with a hammer if it wasn’t a fight. 

He knocks on the door and after a beat the sounds of rustling and a soft growl emanates from the door. He doesn’t get to question the noises for long, because in the next moment the door is pulled open to reveal Portgas D. Rouge in all her glory. 

The sun bathes her in soft gold and stark shadows, her pink hair laying loose over her shoulders, freckles proudly dotting tan skin and brown eyes taking him in with a rapture that he’s sure is mirrored in his own.

“Rouge,” her name leaves his mouth as an exhale. 

“Ray!” She beams before tackling him into a hug. And that’s right, she’s pregnant. He’ll blame sentimentality for not noticing it earlier, but it was hard to ignore the round press that causes him to bend forward. Their height difference and her bump makes the position slightly impractical, but neither of them says anything as Rouge clenches her hands in his shirt and he rests his head on top of hers. 

When they part, she ushers him into her home. He takes in the room. There are two windows that allow the light to dress the room in warm colors. At the center of the room rests an orange sofa and an oversized blue armchair facing a small table and from the ceiling hang planters housing a variety of flowers. He walks to one of the walls where etchings of island maps and ships that he recognizes as Rouge’s work are hung up, pausing at a familiar oak chest that he can’t help but run his hand over the chiseled letters reading RGD. The other side of the room opens up into a kitchen that’s suited with a wooden dining table and a hallway leading to other rooms. 

He turns to Rouge who’s taken a seat at the kitchen counter and startles when a bobcat jumps onto the space next to her. He's not sure whether he should really be surprised about it. 

“When Shakky said you had a cat, I don’t know why I thought she meant a housecat.”

Rouge laughs and something settles in his chest. “Ray meet Rose,” she gestures between the two, one hand cupping her stomach. “Rose this is Ray, be nice,” she says with a mischief laced smile that he’s eighty percent sure is just to unnerve him. By the Blues, he missed her. 

“Hello, Rose,” he indulges. The feline just narrows her eyes at him before pointedly turning away. He snorts, taking a seat by the pair. “Where’d you get her?”

Rouge cards her fingers through the bobcat’s fur. “Three years ago, the island was hit with a freak snow storm. We couldn’t prove it, but I had my money on a Devil Fruit User being the cause. Anyways, I found her caught in a rusty hunter’s trap. Nursed her back to health and let her out, but she just kept coming back.”

He hums. “Any reason for the name?”

She let out a laugh. “You saw the flowers out front?” He nods. “Used to have roses there too until one day Roger and I came back from the market to chewed up stems and petals thrown up in the living room. Before then I was calling her Kitty-”

“You named her Kitty?”

“It’s a good name,” she protests. “As I was saying, I’d call her Kitty, but then Roger, who this traitor adored, started calling her Rose, Roses, Rosie. And that was that.”

They sit in a comfortable silence disturbed only by Rose’s purrs and the sounds of outside. The pair of them were used to these silences, they were silences that they’d share at mountain peaks looking over islands and kitchen tables sitting side by side. 

He brings a hand to his face. For someone who spent his life living in the moment with an eye on the future, these days the past kept coming back to him. 

“Hey, Ray?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m pregnant.”

Rayleigh looks at her. There’s a glow to her face and dark smudges under her eyes. She looks so alive and tired and like one of his oldest friends. He opens his arm to her and she falls into the hug with the ease of someone who’s done it for years. “Yeah, you are.”

The question that he’s been trying to avoid since he got the call intrudes his thoughts.  _ How? How? How? _

“Have I ever told you that I was born on Baterilla?” 

Rayleigh is pulled from his thoughts by the question. “You said you were from South Blue, we never asked which island.” 

It had been not long after they met in East Blue that Roger had suggested finding more crew in the South Blue. Roger and he had shared a look when their momentary companion exclaimed, “If we go to South Blue, I refuse to sail to any island that I’ve been to before. The whole point of sticking with you is for  _ new  _ adventures, I thought we could handle that.” 

Rouge lets out a sad huff, “I was running away. My folks were both sailors with their own ships, but they always made sure that one of them was home with me. When I was sixteen I convinced them I was grown up enough to stay by myself so they took my dad’s boat out. A week later I learn that their ship was attacked by pirates and all of the sudden I have a house, a boat, and no parents to my name. I took the first ship out of Baterilla and never looked back.”

Rayleigh let this information fit itself into the picture that was Rouge and asks, “What made you come back?”

“It felt right. My crew and I, we had our adventures. Neither of you ever told it to me straight, but something about looking for Raftel felt final to me.” Rayleigh ignores the stab prick of guilt at that. “I started going back to islands that I mapped before until all that was left was Baterilla. I thought I had no reason to come back, but I’m really happy I did. I’m really happy that you and Roger got to see it.”

“I’m happy for you,” he says. And really he is. He remembers the restlessness in her that had partly just been who she was, but had also seemed manic at first. A wanderlust that was remarkable on its own, fueled by grief. 

“How’s Shakky?”

He’s smiling wider before he even notices, “She’s doing well. She called me at some no name bar an hour after I arrived, so in case you were wondering if her hunches stopped being right, I can assure you they have not.”

Rouge giggles, “I missed that. It was fun convincing people to bet against her, easy belli.”

Rayleigh snorts, “And you say you’re not a pirate. Did you not get to talk long when you called?”

The sailor sobers at the question. “The navy has been tapping the phones.”

His brows furrow, “How do you know?”

Rose climbs onto Rouge’s lap to nuzzle at her face. Rouge looks out the window, her face blank in the way it gets when she’s truly upset, when she answers. “A while after Roger turned himself in, I overheard some fisherman saying there’s a line of navy ships not far from the coast. Next thing you know there’s officers knocking on doors saying they’re doing a census. Then they said they received news that someone was harboring a criminal, but they only called out women and young children. Baterilla is a big island, Ray. There were a lot of pregnant ladies and babies.”

Ice crawls up his back at the implication. “They knew Roger had a child.”

Rouge bites her lip, “I don’t know if they knew or if they suspected. Either way, ships heading out were getting checked. Phone calls and letters were hard to get out. But throughout it all I knew I couldn’t let them get my baby. Roger was so happy when he found out I was pregnant, y’know? He had names picked out because we both know how good I am at naming things.”

Rayleigh’s jaw is too clenched for him to say anything as Rouge lets secret after secret spill out so he squeezes her hand. 

“I didn’t want my bump to show, so I didn’t.”

His eyes widen at her words. “How long have you been pregnant?”

He could swear that her Will turns palpable when she gives him a sharp smile and responds, “Twenty months.”

He laughs, and it’s a choked thing filled with grief for Baterilla’s dead and grieving, relief for his best friends’ child, and awe in the face of Portgas D. Rouge’s Will. 

She’s petting Rose’s fur again when she tells him, “Roger said that Garp would take care of me and our kid.” 

Rayleigh holds himself still from the urge to jerk back, “Navy Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp?” He questions and tries not to let  _ He didn’t think I would?  _ come out instead.

Rouge hums, “That’s what I said. I never met the man outside of your crew’s stories and newspaper articles, but Roger trusted him”

Flashbacks of dodging hand thrown cannonballs, booming shouts echoing Roger’s booming laughter, the occasional situation induced teamup. The man was insane, but if he’s being honest so was Roger. He'd question if he would ever entrust a child to that man, but then he remembers battles cut short when civilians crowded the streets and the way some chases seemed to be for show in the aftermath of helping an island. 

“Garp rivalved Roger in crazy, but he was alright for a marine.”

Rouge smiles, “I waited for the day that Garp would show up on my doorstep, dreaded it too. I didn’t know if he was coming or if he was the one who started the raids. For months all I could think of was that if my baby couldn’t grow up here where I could teach them how to sail and Roger could show them how to fight, where we’d make big meals for three and our crews could join us and we’d have parties like we used, then I still wanted my baby to grow up around family. Rayleigh, you have always been family.”

He answers the unasked question with tears stinging his eyes, “You’re my family too.” 

Later when he’s helping Rouge in the kitchen and his eyebrows raise when the usual black hole amount that she portions for herself is increased because apparently her baby is a black hole too, he finds them falling into familiar routines. Little things like how Rouge hands him a handkerchief when the pot’s steam fogs his glasses or when he serves her the largest meat portions, remind him that families don’t need promises to care for each other. They just do. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> plans are made to leave Baterilla.

Rayleigh wakes up in Rouge’s guest bedroom to the sound of chatter and the smell of food. He would be alarmed if it wasn’t for the fact that one of the voices is Rouge’s and she doesn’t seem concerned. 

It doesn’t take much to blink the sleep from his eyes, years of New World storms and surprise attacks made it a necessity. Following the scent of food into the kitchen he’s greeted by the sight of Gaia cooking by the stove while Rouge sneaks off pieces of sausage. Judging by the amused smile on Gaia’s face she knows what Rouge is doing, but allows it. 

Rouge smiles at him when their eyes meet. “Morning! You slept well?”

“Better than in a long time. You?”

Rouge gives a tired chuckle, “The kid got hungry and woke me up, but guess who came to my door with food? Here’s a hint, it wasn’t you.”

Gaia snorts, “Thought you’d know better than that, Silvers.”

He rolls his eyes, “Hello, Gaia.” The first time the Roger Pirates had run into Rouge’s crew, they had started making a name for themselves in the pirate world. It would be leagues until they reached the infamy they held now, but they were pirates all the same. Rouge for all that she loved to tell stories had forgotten to mention to her crew that the “friends in the area” were Gol D. Roger and his crew. Gaia had taken everything in stride, standing out amongst the tense crowd of sailors. She had taken one glance at her captain and introduced herself with the impervious control that he would later associate with her. 

The dark skinned woman turns to him with a flat expression, “You could have just waited for us to pick you up.”

He concedes with a nod, “I could have.”

Rouge ooo’ed in a way that Rayleigh used to stop Shanks from doing, using the distraction to steal another sausage link.

Gaia sighs and turns to Rouge, “He’s acting smug, but he’s the one who had to swim here. All of your pirate friends are crazy.” 

He laughs at her exasperation, “It’s been a while.”

She raises a brow, “I wouldn’t mind going longer than five years.” There’s a fond smile threatening her lips that betrays her. She points to the table before turning back to the stove. “Set the table, breakfast is almost done.”

Rouge is already handing him plates to help him. With the table set and food being plated, they sit down and eat. The meal was a hearty serving of a fried egg atop of rice accompanied by fresh salmon, sausages, bacon, guava juice and coffee. 

He’s surprised to not see a cat begging for scraps by their feet and he mentions it.

“Ah she likes hunting for her meals. Don’t take her as a baseline for any bobcat though, Rose is weird.”

Gaia chuckles, despite preparing the breakfast she only served herself an egg with coffee. “Captain, bobcats are little devils. Remember Sheep Island? They’re aggressive and territorial when wild, but you got that cat trailing after you like her young.” 

“It’s called animal magnetism,” Rouge says with a pleased smile. If all of Baterilla’s animals loved her like Rose seemed to, it would explain the downright friendly way she treats animals no matter how snarling or big. Or maybe there really is a mysterious force drawing all different types of people to her. 

After they finish eating, Gaia leaves to check in on her crew. Officially they’re in South Blue to fish for the Blue Finned Elephant Tuna that are native to the area. Rouge walks her outside as she promises to come back in the evening to discuss their plans going forward. When Rouge returns she’s accompanied by Rose who’s quick to curl up by a sun spot on the floor. 

“Help me pack?” Rayleigh takes his gaze off the lounging bobcat to look at Rouge. Her voice holds a weariness that makes him want her to sit down, but when he says so she just waves it off. “I’ll be tired either way, I’d rather be productive about it.”

That’s how the pair found themselves standing in the middle of her bedroom with a stuffed duffle on the floor. Despite Rayleigh offering his help, Rouge seemed to have already planned what she was taking. The bag had filled up quickly with basic necessities and the only mementos kept were practical in nature, a dagger in a gold and green holster and her Logbook. 

“Roger had left a tone dial for us,” The sailor says, her fingers running over a shell shard. “Said he sailed the Blues and the greatest treasure he found was a family. One day I was listening to it when someone had knocked on my door. Slipped right through my hands.” She puts the shards back into the jar she pulled it from and sits on the bed.

Rouge had never been the shore that Roger sailed back to. They had always been like the wind and waves, pushing the other forwards. They looked at each other and their diverging dreams with smiles that said  _ go on an adventure and tell me about it. _ Both captains had made a family out of their crews, but Rayleigh had a front row seat to how they made a home out of each other. Though in all of his years of knowing her, she’s never looked more like a sailor’s wife then she did now. 

Rayleigh takes a seat next to her and they both stare absently at the packed bag. “You can miss him without it being regretful,” he says and ignores the nights he spent at the bottom of a bottle thinking  _ what if what if what if _ . 

She cups her abdomen, her eyes somewhat distant. “I feel like I robbed this kid of having someone to miss.”

He flicks her on the shoulder and the face she makes at him would have been funny if it didn’t follow such a sad statement. “Your kid might never know Roger, but we can make sure they know he loved them. Seashells are bound to break, Rouge. You can’t blame yourself for that.”

Her shoulders loosen and she falls back on the bed grabbing his shirt so he goes with her. “I hope you know that too. Roger chose to go how he lived, like a pirate. You were a good first mate and friend for letting him.”

He blinks up at the ceiling. Roger had come up to him as a stranger in East Blue with adventure in his palm. The two of them had spent more years together on a boat than apart when Roger started coughing. Crocus had said it was incurable, but during that last trip Rayleigh couldn’t help but wonder if that was true. In a world with sky islands and devil fruits, would it have been impossible for there to have been a cure too? Raftel was an experience that their crew knew they’d take to the grave, but back then only the first mate, doctor, and captain himself knew that it would happen sooner to Roger than any of them. Raftel would always be there, they were too early for it even. If he searched for longer- Rouge would still be right. Roger loved the freedom of an adventure and he chose to end his with the drama that he always incited. The world is a better place for having had Gol D. Roger and Rayleigh would be damned if he didn’t let his kid know the same.

\------

Rayleigh is making curry when Gaia comes back with the sun having set behind her. He and Rouge had spent the rest of the day caring for her plants and looking over items that they might take after the marine surveillance around the island died down. 

Dinner is a quiet affair, the fatigue that’s been trailing Rouge all day settles around her shoulders as she eats. There’s a red hibiscus tucked behind her ear, reminiscent of the time Roger had gifted her one after flailing to Rayleigh how it’d be received and she had begun to wear them ever since. 

When Rouge finishes eating she pulls out two maps from a basket and spreads them on the table. With her hands on the table she looks both first mates in the eye before speaking, “I want to thank you both for coming when you didn't have to.”

He gives her an amused look. Was there a time that he wouldn’t come when she asked? She should understand that and if not, Gaia answers, “That’s bull, what sort of first mate doesn’t follow captain’s orders?” 

Rouge nods, her hair falling over her face at the movement hiding the edges of her smile. She looks back up and gestures to the maps, “This is a map of Baterilla and this is one of Baterilla and its surrounding islands.” 

The map is detailed in a way that Rouge’s maps always are, he spots the island that he left his boat at neatly titled Mikanos. Before Shakky had mentioned Gaia was coming, Rayleigh’s mind was already turning a part of his focus into how to get in and out of Baterilla without notice. The weight on his chest alleviated when Gaia had mentioned during breakfast that she turned in on her fishing boat. Swimming into Baterilla was convenient when it was just him trying to avoid the marines, but it would be unfeasible to drag a pregnant Rouge and her bobcat through the currents. He had thought they could sneak off on a borrowed ship, but Rouge’s words on why she hadn’t left earlier still haunt the air. The best option would be-

“My boat,” Gaia starts. “The marines checked my boat coming in, but we’ve got a storage room that’s not in the original plan. You could stowaway with Silvers while we head out to another island.”

“We could head to Shakky,” Rayleigh proposes. It was where he would bring her regardless to recuperate, everyone knows better than to cause a fuss at Shakky’s bar. “The only problem is Sabaody’s at least a month away.”

Rouge looks at the map, contemplation written on her face. “We can cut that time in half if we’re careful. Rayleigh and I can use our haki to get us through the Calm Belt, but Gaia, does your boat have a means of propulsion?”

“To get through the Calm Belt? No. But we came here from West Blue under a fishing permit through Mariejois,” Gaia’s eyes narrow. “Captain, when do you plan on giving birth?”

Rouge meets her first mate’s gaze with a stubborn clench in her jaw, “When it’s safe. I refuse to give the world a trail to follow us by, giving birth in Baterilla will do that.”

Rayleigh cuts in, “Going through Mariejois or not, you know the seas are a rough place. It would be safer for your kid to give birth on land.”

“I agree with Silvers. We have a doctor on board our ship, but he’s never handled a birth let alone a sea birth. If this is about safety, an extra month pregnant can’t be good for you or your baby.”

The fight visibly goes out of Rouge. “Which island did you have in mind?”

There’s a beat of concerned silence at how fast she conceded that Rayleigh follows. “The island Mikanos is a day over and it has low if any marine presence. I left my boat there on my way and it has a busy enough port that people wouldn’t ask questions.”

The women look over the map and nod. 

“We had enough of a catch today that my crew wouldn’t find it odd if we went back. So tomorrow at dawn?” She looks to Rouge for confirmation.

Rouge looks up from the map, “We leave at dawn.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the way that i stress about character voices. It's a skill in progress and man do I hope I get better. lol so that's a new chapter. Let me know what y'all think/how you feel about characterization. Also I feel like a fool for thinking and caring a lot about Rouge as a person and the adventures she's had when I know that she's going to die. When I know that I have to write that scene :/


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a birth, an arrival, a death, a departure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: just me finding out that shanks and buggy were 9 when Roger took them on

They do not leave at dawn. 

Before the sun climbs its way to the sky, before the thought to rise even comes to its head, Rouge’s water breaks. Some part of him laughs at the irony that hours after they finalize their plan, it’s torn apart. It’s almost nostalgic like how Roger would turn a simple restock errand into a hunt for a legendary treasure or how they could have a full crew only to spot two 9 year olds who are now their cabin boys. That part of him thinks it only makes sense that Roger’s kid would have the same wrench throwing habit. The rest of him is in overdrive about the fact that _Rouge_ _is giving birth._

It was four hours ago that Rose had woken him up with a startling yowl from his door, leading him to Rouge’s bedroom. 

Four hours ago he gathered materials from around the house that Rouge and a book titled  _ 500 Things You Should Know _ said were needed to deliver a baby.

Four hours ago he sat at her bedside while she went through contractions.

He’s had four hours to reconcile himself with the fact that he was going to deliver a baby. He wonders if his vivre card soots up from how the realization made his heart skip a beat. He clenches his jaw, if Roger was known for his audacity and Rouge for her tenacity Rayleigh would be known for his adaptability. With the life he led, everything was par for course. Guiding his friend through labor? It was bound to happen. He snorts.

“What’s got you laughing?” Rouge grits out from where she lays propped up on her bed. 

“Would you have ever bet that I’d be the one to deliver your kid?”

“That depends. Did Shakky bet otherwise?”

He huffs. When he sees the baby’s head start to  _ crown _ as the book had described it he tells her to stop pushing. It takes a while longer before a sharp cry echoes through the room.

He’s quick to clean and swaddle the child who already sports tufts of dark hair despite being smaller than his forearm. It’s a boy. He meets eyes with Rouge who’s breathing deeply, her eyes heavy lidded but intent on the bundle swathed in his arms. He passes the baby into the cradle of her arms. 

“It’s a boy,” he says. They’re the first words spoken since the child’s cries first rang. Matter of fact in a way that seems at odds with the surreal situation. Yesterday Rouge was pregnant. Today she is not. The result of that is a pinkish, small child.  _ He’s so small _ . He leaves to allow the new mother privacy to nurse her child. Busying himself by fetching a glass of water for both himself and Rouge as he eyes the window. The sky’s dark hue lightens with the incoming sun, but it will be a while until the sun finds its place. 

He gets back to the room to the sight of the mother and child. She sits fully upright against the headboard and gently traces the infant’s face. Despite the dark smudges under her eyes and her sweat plastered hair, Rouge looks content. Her breaths are still slightly labored, but considering the exertion she just went through he reasons it’s expected. 

After a while she must notice him in the doorway. He smiles as her gaze lingers on her child when she lifts her head to meet his eyes. 

“Congratulations, Rouge,” he says in the same quiet way he announced the gender, as if the morning hush compels him not to raise his voice.

Rouge laughs, it’s soft like the breeze that ruffles through flowers and runs through hair. “Ace, meet your uncle Rayleigh. He likes to swim and even if he won’t admit it, he ate a devil fruit so his glasses never fall off.” He huffs at that and it comes out watery. “He can be strict, but that just means that he cares.”

_ Ace. The kid’s name is Ace. _

He takes a seat by the bedside. Tension bunched between his shoulder blades eases slightly as Rouge sits entranced with Ace. She tells him stories in soft tones of adventures she’s been on and people she's met and how one day Ace will see the world for himself. It’s lulling to hear her recount stories, some he’s lived through other’s wholly her own. Soon Gaia will come to check on them when they miss docking time and they’ll ferry away to the Grandline, but until then the room is filled with Rouge’s storytelling, Rose’s purrs, and Ace’s sniffles. 

He’s about to offer to hold Ace so she can rest when she beats him to it. 

“Rayleigh,” she breathes out on a labored breath. Their eyes meet, warm brown meeting brown. Something in her eyes jolts him into alertness.

Rayleigh has seen and fought horrors of the world. From the way the newspapers paint him, he knows that some people consider him to be one. It’s powerlessness,he thinks, that truly strikes fear. Some see it in the looming shadow of a sea king and others in the black sail of a jolly roger. It’s not a feeling that Rayleigh knows well. All of his fear tints, but never overwhelms the thrill. He knows the chill of anticipation down his back and the saber sharp smile of his captain. He knows the atmospheric press of clashing wills and the rushing pulse of a battle. The first time that Rayleigh felt a heart numbing dread, that hand binding powerlessness, Roger’s coughs echoed like a premature dirge in Oro Jackson’s infirmary. His captain had looked at him then with a shard of fear in shocked eyes. His face open in ways that it only ever was when they were alone, where his steadfast presence could waver and doubt. He was vulnerable and Rayleigh was powerless to defend him from his illness. 

He’s brought back to that room and those damning coughs as that same dread inches up his spine. Rouge’s breaths don’t come easy as she cradles her newborn child. It’s the troubled look in her eyes that tightens Rayleigh’s throat. He opens up his observation haki and the feel of Rouge’s dimming aura scares him.

“You’ll take care of him.” It sounds more like a statement than a question, but he feels himself nod anyway. She knows, he thinks, as her jaw clenches, but her hands remain gentle as they card through her son’s hair. Her breaths are still labored, but he can’t ask her to rest, too afraid that she won’t wake up. 

He startles when her hand cups his cheek, her thumb brushing beneath his eye. Her hand comes back wet. “You’ll take care of yourself.” The sentence coming out like a command and a wish. To hear it coming from Rouge who could be so reckless in her determination, startles a fond laugh from his throat.

“That’s supposed to be my line.”

Her smile brightens her face and despite the fatigue that found a home in the edges of her frame, she looks happy. “Guess I’m a bit of a pirate after all.”

There isn’t much to say. They had once vowed to live the life that they wanted to live, you can’t swim if your regrets weigh you down. So they live without regrets. Roger had chosen the freedom to live and die how he chose for as much as he could choose it and Rouge would never do something she didn’t want to do. Seeing her cradle her son, for all that he feels loss carving something out of him again, he knows she can’t regret it. The voice in him who had whispered  _ danger _ since he got the call, sits quiet as its hunch is proven correct. 

He straightens in his seat when he feels the strong familiar presence of Garp approaching. His hand clenches at the sight of mother and child so vulnerable on her bed. 

“Garp is coming,” he informs her. “Alone.”

The tension that had crept up her spine loosened at the confirmation of his solitude. It takes a while before quiet knocks hit their ears. It’s meek compared to what Rayleigh is used to hearing from the man. The idea of the same hands who launched cannonballs being capable of such soft knocks would have made him laugh at a different time. 

He opens the door at Rouge’s nod, before finding himself back to her side. Garp’s gaze sweeps through the room in the vigilance of a hardened marine. Rayleigh spares him a glance before focusing back onto Rouge and Ace. The air is tense with premonition when Rouge speaks.

“Roger had once said that the only Marine he’d let take him would be you. Said you were a good man. Almost two years ago, he said you’d keep my baby safe no matter what name he had or whose blood flowed in his veins.”

Rayleigh withholds a wry smile at that. It was cruel of Roger to ask a marine to choose between justices, then again it’s cruel to murder a child for the sins of their father. Garp held his sense of justice well. For all of his shouts of intolerance, he’s the type to choose justice over order and Roger knew that, he trusted that.

“Gol D. Ace, he’ll be stubborn like his parents,” Rouge continues. Their eyes lock. Even with her energy waning, her will remains strong. He takes in the details of her face to soothe the dread in him. The woman he’s known for thirty five years is still the same kind freckled person that she was back then. “He will be happy,” she asks of him with warm eyes.

She turns to the marine. “And he will be safe, until he decides that safety pales in comparison to freedom. And no matter the distance or time he will know that he is loved.” 

Rayleigh breathes in as her declaration rings through the room. Rose finds her way to Rouge’s side, nuzzling the mother and child. The same feeling of surreality hits him as she turns searching for something in Garp’s face before nodding, the sun trailing through the window to paint her in shades of dawn. It’s a soft smile that graces her face, soft like a whispered secret and the ocean’s foam. It’s surreal he no longer hears ragged breaths in the morning air, that Portgas D. Rouge has breathed her final breaths and died with a smile on her face. 

The child shifts in his mother’s arms and Rayleigh goes to hold him. He wonders if it’s the change of arms or something in the kid that _ just knows _ what occurred that causes Ace to cry. He rocks him until he quiets again. He’s been in the world for barely an hour and has already lost so much.

His attention is pulled to Garp who shifts from where he stands. His face is grim with pinched brows and light streaks of grey mark his dark hair. 

“You’ll take him in?” The marine asks. 

Rayleigh forces his hands not to clench, he keeps them gentle for the baby in his arms. His voice doesn’t waver, “Yes. And you’ll protect him from the marines?”

The man sighs, “As long as he stays out of sight. If he takes his name, it’ll be hard for them not to know him as Roger’s son.” The weight of past promises hang like a white coat on his shoulders. “A child shouldn’t die for his father’s crimes.”

Rayleigh mulls the words over. They both know that it runs deeper than that, even if Garp doesn’t know the specifics. There are thousands of children of pirates that the World Government would hardly blink at. Roger was legendary, but  _ they _ were the ones to crown him a king. Too afraid of buried history that they tried to cut his future short. If Ace were to die it wouldn’t be for Roger’s sins, but to bury their own. 

He takes Garp’s words for what they are, a promise kept and a warning. Ace rests his pudgy cheek on his chest, the movement anchoring his thoughts on the kid. They’ll have to bury Rouge. They’ll have to meet Gaia at the docks and head to Sabaody. They’ll have to do a lot of things very soon, but for now he watches the rise and fall of the babe’s breaths. The legacy of two of his closest friends. The child that’s now in his keeping. 

He turns to Garp, “Does your crew know why you’re docked?”

“Not even Bogard.”

“Good,” he nods. “We’ll find our own way out, if you don’t mind.”

The marine hesitates at the unspoken dismissal. There’s a care in the nonchalance of his tone that’s unusual for the blunt man. “There’s a village under my protection in East Blue. It’s a quiet place on the outskirts of Goa.” He straightens the cap on his head and moves to leave. “Keep your face out of the papers, Rayleigh.”

“Haven’t you heard? I’m retired, can’t wait for the day you are too.” 

He snorts and wordlessly shakes his head. Rayleigh keeps an eye on his aura as it takes its steps further away from this house on a hill. 

He rests the sleeping babe in a nest of blankets and leaves Rose at the bedside while he searches for a shovel. It’s when he’s outside by a remembrance stone for two faded out names that he starts digging in an adjacent plot. He remembers the history of the Portgas’ and digs a grave for their daughter.

Baterilla has too many ghosts.

\---

He’s washing his hands of dirt when Gaia knocks at the door. 

“What happened to ‘we leave at dawn’?” she asks with humor that almost distracts him from the slight crease of her brow. She must read something on his face from the way anguish quickly paints hers. 

“Where’s Rouge?” She pushes her way in as he opens his mouth, nervous in a way she never likes to show. 

“Her water broke this morning,” he starts. “Gaia...she didn’t make it.”

Gaia’s shoulders bunch as she eyes the floorboards outside of Rouge’s bedroom. He feels too heavy with his own grief to guide her through hers, Rouge was always the navigator. He clears his throat. 

“She gave birth to a boy, his name is Ace.”

There’s a silence before Gaia rolls her shoulders and turns with red eyes, “Roger picked the name, didn’t he? She’s shit at naming.” 

He guides her into the guest room where he had left Ace. Gaia looks at the kid with something unreadable in her eyes. 

“Alright, my crew is ready to go at a notice. Let’s get the trout to Sabaody.”

He’s taken aback by the abrupt shift of demeanor, but silently follows her out. He squeezes her shoulder in comfort. 

From then it’s quick. Rouge had planned to come back for anything that she may have wanted after attention on the island died down. All traces of Rogers had been packed and hidden from sight and the duffle filled with supplies lay on the floor. The burial is done as well as they could, better to do it now than return to a rotting-. Her headstone is decorated by hibiscuses and they say goodbye.

It’s not much of a decision whether to bring the bobcat. Rose had spent hours alternating between making pitiful noises at Rouge and curling around Ace. After the burial, she had stuck close to Rayleigh and Ace. 

As he makes his cloaked way aside the others to the docks, he takes in the streaming banners and messy pavilion. The town is sleepy in a way that’s reminiscent of the dawn following a party.  _ Oh right, it’s the new year. _

Gaia guides them into the undocumented room before corraling her crewmates. The scent of fresh caught fish is fainter here, still present, but not suffocatingly so. The room was bare aside from the sleeping cots in the corner and a lamp. 

He sits on the cot as he hears the sounds of the fishermen raising anchor and preparing to sail. His attention is on keeping Ace and Rose calm as they move towards the marine line. With his observation haki he tracks a marine who boards the ship for inspection, making sure to suppress his own aura. Rose takes a position in front of him with her eyes intent on the door like a feline sentry. Soon the presence walks off the ship and the stall ends. 

The familiar rocking of the boat allows his mind to drift to the baby in his arms. He’ll have to call Shakky to let her know who he’s coming home with. For all that Rayleigh was a pirate who lived by his own code, he’s always had responsibilities. As a first mate on the Oro Jackson, as a husband to Shakky, as a friend. Gently bouncing Ace in his arms to calm him, he comes to terms with the light weight in his arms as his newest, but no less important, set of responsibilities. 

Sabaody is days away and that East Blue bar seems like eons ago. He traces a finger along the curve of Gol D. Ace’s soft cheek and silently vows.  _ I’ll take care of you. _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is like the longest chapter of the fic so far! yay for that milestone, but also it's the saddest one tbh. I realize that this entire fic is really just prologue for all the fluff I wanna write so it ended up being really Rayleigh centric. Do y'all realize how little content there is for like every character here except Ace? Lol I was writing these snippets of how I think they met because I wanted to essentially be Rouge's Log book/adventures because I have so many ideas of the stuff she did, idk if anyone would be interested in that, but we'll see when we get there.
> 
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated, let me know what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayleigh goes home

They’re docked at one of Sabaody’s more legal groves when Gaia hands him his vivre card back. 

“You’re a hard one to find, Silvers.” Light streams through the mangroves’ leaves dappling her face in their outline. “Make sure the trout is damn impossible for the dogs to sniff out.”

Her ship,  _ The Nature’s Bounty,  _ had sailed through the Red Port with its stowaways safely hidden. Ace had spent his first days living in that spare room while Gaia snuck them formula and food. Hiding isn’t new to Rayleigh. Three years ago after he let Roger and Rouge sail away, he listened to his friend’s request and laid low out of the marines’ sights and hands. He knew how to move with shadows. Between his time as the Dark King and being the husband of an information broker, maneuvering in the gaps of people’s awareness had become second nature to him. Until, of course, he found himself without the nebulous hope that Roger would recover and his captain’s capture was plastered on every paper. When that day came, he became more concerned with finding the bottom of bottles than the marines finding him. 

That would have to change. As much as standing out like a dare to any patrolling officer or daring bounty hunter had satisfied the part of his brain that cajoled  _ let’s turn this world upside down _ , the sight of the Roger Pirates’ first mate Silvers Rayleigh with an infant child would only garner dangerous rumours. Rumours that Rouge had died to prevent. 

He makes his way through Sabaody’s crowd with a baby under his cloak and his steps dogged by Rose. The moss covered dome of Shakky’s bar shows itself as they approach grove 13, the stone building standing as tall as it was the day she first bought it. He enters through a side door, knowing that she locked the front from customers after he called. 

The lingering scent of nicotine and berry spiced rum welcomes him and the door’s click echoes through the high ceilings. The wooden walls that offset the exterior’s stone facade are soothing in their familiarity. It’s been over three months since he found his way back home, back to-

“Shakky,” the woman stands in the doorway to the cellar, cigarette unlit and twirling in her hand. She’s wearing a cropped purple halter top and denim shorts, and her beaded necklace rests over her clavicle the way it has since he first proposed with it. She takes a good look at him and brings him to the bar proper where a fresh bottle of sake at his preferred booth. 

He takes his cloak off as he sits, unveiling Ace in the process who fusses at the change. Rose curls on by his side and Shakky runs a hand through his hair from where she’s perched on the table. 

“Long hair suits you,” she says twirling a strand that he admits grows past the nape of his neck, the way he tends to cut it. He leans into her touch as he lets his guard down for the first time in weeks and hums. He takes the comfort that she offers and it settles over him smoother than any whiskey could. “Let me hold him.”

His arm flexes as he lowers his head to look at Ace only to find the baby staring back at him with wide dark eyes. The baby has spent the majority of his first two weeks alive cradled in Rayleigh’s arms. He can feel the soreness of his arm for that, but still holding the gaze of this small child he forgets the request asked of him until he hears Shakky laugh from above. 

He smiles wryly as his face heats up and lets Shakky take Ace from his arms. Her face gentles as she holds him. He knows that Rouge and her had their own history from when she still sailed as a pirate. There was a respect between the two that came from an adventure he never got the full story of that continued throughout their friendship. While he was still on Nature’s Bounty he told her the news of what happened in Baterilla in the same careful wording that she had called him weeks ago. As much as they joke about her hunches, he knows them for the deductions that they are. She knows the situation that they’re in.

“She named him Gol D. Ace,” he says staring fondly at her as she mouths the name to herself.

“A strong name, for a strong boy.” She meets his gaze and he sees the same grief he knows he carries in the sad tilt of her mouth. He’s not worried that she’ll refuse to raise the kid with him, but he knows a kid was never something they had planned. He’s about to ask to give her the option when she continues, “I got a contact for milk, their background checks. And apparently it can keep for six months in the freezer.”

“Always so prepared,” he teases, through his relief. She smiles at him knowingly and he rests his head back, massaging her calf with one half. He glances to his side to find Rose watching Shakky handle Ace with the same diligence that she shadowed Rouge.  _ Who knew animal magnetism was hereditary.  _

“Are you going to stay?” 

Rayleigh meets Shakky’s gaze again at the question. It’s not said with any resentment or passive aggressiveness. They knew who the other was before their relationship turned into what it is today, they never begrudged the other of their freedom and the forms it takes. She’s not asking for herself, but for Ace. He made this choice already in a Baterilla kitchen and vowed it on a fishing ship. 

“Yes,” he squeezes her knee. “I’m staying.”

There’s a room to clean out upstairs and supplies that Shakky may have bought already. There are habits to kick, he thinks eyeing unlit cigarettes and sake on the table, and a lot to learn. He thinks of his oldest friends, both dead with a smile on their face and their wills strong, and of this small child who’s not even a month into this world. He knows that the following years are going to be spent caring for a kid that the world already decided to hate. Whether he goes by Gol or Portgas, he'll make sure Ace knows that he is loved. Regardless of how tall he grows or strong he gets or career he picks, Rayleigh feels the press of his friend’s will to give their kid a life worth living. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh the end of this part! Grateful to everyone who stuck around and decided to give this story a chance. The next part is literally gonna be Ace growing up from ages 0 to 8 and I will try to post that as soon as possible. I already wrote some of it, but I wanna have all the stories chronological, so it might take a sec to have it all out, but I hope y'all join me. 
> 
> Kudos/Comments/Bookmarks are greatly appreciated. Let me know what y'all thought of what was essentially "The prologue" I'll update the series summary to give y'all an idea of what's in store.


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